Photoluminescence Study of In-Situ Rare Earth Doped PVT-Grown SiC Single Crystals

Abstract

Several SiC bulk crystals were grown with erbium and ytterbium as doping materials. Erbium contents determined by secondary ion mass spectroscopy (SIMS) ranged from 1.2 · 1014 cm-3 to 1.04 · 1015 cm-3, while ytterbium contents were below SIMS detection limit. Photoluminescence (PL) investigations of the characteristic 4f-4f-transition lines revealed a reduced luminescence yield in highly nitrogen and aluminum co-doped samples. Also, samples without intentional co-doping grown on the C-face showed less luminescence intensity than those grown on the Si-face. A stabilizing effect of erbium doping on the 4H polytype was observed.